1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a toy horn typically associated with celebrations and/or parties, and, more specifically, a horn structured to produce a burst of confetti when blown.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Holidays or other events are often celebrated with party favors such as noisemakers and confetti. One common noisemaker is a toy horn or “party horn.” Such a party horn typically has an elongated, hollow body with a noise-making device, such as a whistle or vibratile reed, at one end and an opening at the other end. The body may be shaped as a frustum to amplify the celebratory noise. Confetti is typically small pieces of paper or other lightweight material that floats slowly downwardly when tossed in the air. Confetti is typically tossed upwardly to maximize the float time.
Party horns and confetti have been combined in the past. For example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,491,809, a party horn is disclosed having a tissue barrier over the wide end of the body and confetti placed in the space between the noise-making mouthpiece and the closed end. A user could remove the mouthpiece and blow on the narrow end of the body causing the confetti to break the tissue barrier and be expelled rapidly outward. The user could then replace the mouthpiece and use the device as a typical party horn. Other devices eliminated the step of removing the mouthpiece and allowed the user to both make noise and expel the confetti with one breath.
The disadvantage of confetti party horns such as these is that the confetti was expelled in a direction aligned with the direction of the initial flowpath of the user's breath. That is, if a user held her head in a typical upright position, the horn extended in a generally horizontal direction. If the confetti was expelled in a horizontal direction it would quickly fall to the ground and may even hit another person. To expel the confetti in an upward direction, the user would have to tilt her head back so that the horn extended upwardly. However, in this position, the confetti was prone to fall into the user's mouth or block the air passages of the noisemaker.
Another disadvantage with the prior art confetti party horns was that the barrier used to retain the confetti was ruined after one use and confetti could easily fall from the horn. That is, when removing a party horn from one's mouth, a user typically held the narrow end and allowed the wide end to drop first so that the wide end faced downwardly. Thus, if all of the confetti was not expelled in the initial use of the horn when the user removed the horn from her mouth the confetti would simply fall to the ground.
There is therefore, a need for a confetti party horn that allows the user to expel confetti in a direction other than a direction aligned with the flow path of the user's breath.
There is a further need for a party horn that is structured to resist having confetti escape the horn when the horn is not in use.